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Baptist Doctrine

1. Remember that salvation does not depend on works or on your association with a church. It depends on a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. This relationship comes through faith (see Eph. 2:8-9).
2. Pray and trust the Holy Spirit to reach the hearts and minds of those who are lost with the gospel message.
3. Share your testimony. Many Orthodox have never experienced a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Your testimony of what Jesus has accomplished in your life could have a great impact on them. Keep your testimony short. Avoid using terms that are unfamiliar to Orthodox, such as: “walked the aisle,” “got saved,” and “born again.”
4. Explain that you are certain of your salvation because of God’s grace. Make sure that you communicate that your assurance is derived from God’s grace and not from good works or your ability to remain faithful (see 1 John 5:13).
5. Give them a copy of the New Testament. Lead them to texts that explain salvation.
6. Avoid issues that are not central to salvation.
7. Keep the gospel presentation Christ-centered.

I have to thank my friend Sabrina Messenger for alerting me to yet another reason why I am considering converting to Eastern Orthodoxy. Arrogance has to be one of the worst traits of the Baptist denomination (Q: How do you tell a Baptist? A: You can’t tell a Baptist much). While not all of us are narrow-minded toward other faiths, there is a tendency among our leaders to act as if everyone else is wrong without entertaining the idea that we could be wrong. I find this attitude very disturbing when it comes to Orthodoxy. How do we have a nerve to try to teach the Gospel to the church who put the books together and canonized them for us? Are we to correct the likes of Ignatius and Polycarp about church doctrine when they were trained by the 12 Apostles? Which Southern Baptist Convention president or National Baptist Convention USA Inc. (?) preacher gave the opening address at any of the Seven Ecumenical Councils? We Baptist are products of the radical reformation, rebels against the first rebels (the classical reformers), against the most successful rebel (the bishop of Rome). Having been so far removed from the foundation of the church, us criticizing Orthodoxy is like a junior high school basketball team playing against the Miami Heat. So please, my Orthodox friends, be patient with us. We have little exposure to you and too many of us already “know” that we are right.

Guidelines for Witnessing to Your Baptist Friends

Remember that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26). Jesus requires disciples to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow him (Matthew 16:24-27, Mark 8:34-38, Luke 9:22-26), which clearly calls for disciplined effort.

Pray and trust the Holy Spirit will guide you to people who are sincere about learning Christian history and spirituality and will listen (Acts 8:26-39, John 6:66-68). Have confidence in God when some people reject the truth (Matthew 13:14, 15, Mark 4:10-12, Luke 8:9, 10, Isaiah 6:9, 10)

Let them see you work out your salvation in the model of Christ (Philippians 2:1-16). Many Baptist have never befriended someone who prays The Hours, fast, and venerates icons. The example of your lifestyle will have a major impact on them. Don’t force them to kiss a large icon of the Theotokos. Share with them basic examples of prayer that do not conflict with Baptist doctrine and practice.

Explain to them that salvation is not to be taken for granted and that we must be mindful of how we live (Matthew 25:1-46) and that God can reject even those who have been called if they try to come into the kingdom on their terms instead of his (Matthew 22:1-14). This is why Orthodox Christians observe the traditions of the church fathers handed down orally and written from the apostles as well as the Bible (2 Thessalonians 2:15, I Corinthians 11:2).

Explain to them that the church existed 300 years before the Bible came into being and that it was the Orthodox fathers that finalized the canon. Ask them to compare your Orthodox Bible’s Old Testament to theirs (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).

“This is the bread which came down from heaven-not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

John 6:58

Let us be in prayer for all who live in the path of Hurricane Sandy. Thanking God that the Tsunami didn’t greatly affect Alaska and Hawaii. I wish I had spent a little more time (and money, if I had it) at the Newport News Greek Festival yesterday. Spinakopida is sooooooo good!

“My Priest” has assigned me to read On The Incarnation by St. Athanasius and Of Water and Spirit by Fr. Alexander Schmemman. I have also decided to revisit Baptist doctrine in light of Orthodoxy. Sooner or later, I may reach the tipping point where I either remain where I am or convert. As of right now, I am remaining a Baptist pastor (I am still a novice in studying Orthodoxy and I have an ill wife to provide for. Thus, I will not make any hasty decisions about something as important as this).

There are times when we Baptist are clear as mud. Take for example, communion. I have found three opposing doctrines about how we are to approach this ordinance (sacrament). In the Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith of 1707 (Revival Literature 2007), I found these words:

Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this ordinance, do then also inwardly, by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, by spiritually receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all the benefits of His death; the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally, by spiritually present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, ans the elements themselves are to their outward senses. (Of the Lord’s Supper, pg. 68)

Strangely enough, the well-regarded A Baptist Manual of Polity and Practice (American Baptist Churches, Judson Press 1991) throws the 1701 confession out of the window:

It is not a sacred mystery in which some divine power is imparted by the very eating and drinking. No attempt should be made to create an atmosphere of deep solemnity, which would invest this occasion with som dignity different from that of other worship services. There should be quiet reverence in any meeting where a congregation gathers to worship the Lord, but no extra solemnity should characterize the Lord’s Supper. (pg. 167)

Can the spiritual receiving of and feeding of Christ not be a sacred mystery? And how is it that this day of worship not to be taken differently than other days as we only observe Communion Sunday once a month (or less)? The National Baptist (in which I am a member of) used to include the Articles of Faith in our New National Baptist Hymnal where we find these words:

And to the Lord’s Supper, in which the members of the church, by the sacred use of bread and wine, are to commemorate together the dying love of Christ; preceded always by solemn self-examination. (article 14)

In other words; yes, it is a solemn event for us. But, we still aren’t taking in anything special as it is just a commemoration. We are somewhere between the manual and the 1707 confession. With other Baptist bodies with their own doctrines and (thanks congregational rule combined with to “Soul Liberty” and Sola Scriptura) independent churches with the Baptist label, I am sure that my feeble review just scratches the surface of how many different explanations we have about Communion and how it should be practiced.

Maybe I am wrong. But, I really don’t see the benefit of our denomination having a wide variety of interpretations of this significant practice of the Christian faith. We frown up when our seminary trained pastors leave the Baptist Church and form their own independent ministries. Yet, it was our Lord and Savior who told his opponents that a house divided against its self cannot stand. It is my prayer that, at least, officials of the major Baptist conventions will get together and hammer out a more universal doctrine on Communion that we can set as the standard. But, I fear that herding cats in a thunderstorm may be an easier and more likely task.